Although director Richard Donner would only say “maybe” to a follow-up to the 1985 classic, one of the film’s stars is confident it will happen.

“I have said and will always say, that it’s not a question of if, but rather of when the sequel gets made,” Sean Astin, who played Mikey in the adventure comedy, told Tulsa World. “The precise makeup of it, I have no idea. Whether I will be in it, no idea. Whether they would even want the original cast in it, no idea.”

“But it doesn’t matter. It’s bigger — it’s actually bigger than everybody,” he added. “It’s bigger than even Steven [Spielberg], who created it. It’s bigger than Richard Donner, who breathed such strong life into it. It’s now a part of American cultural lore, and the studio has a lot to gain from promoting it, so you can take it to the bank that people will get to enjoy it more.”

Astin revealed that he and co-star Corey Feldman even came up with an idea for “Goonies” sequel. “We had good fun working on that together and pitched it,” he said, “and we were respectfully dismissed.”